Assessing immunological state of transplant recipients
AssigneeWisconsin Alumni Research Foundation
InventorsMajed M. Hamawy, Stuart J. Knechtle
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Abstract
Disclosed herein are methods for monitoring the immunological status of transplant recipients. Fibroblast cells derived from transplanted organs are used in proliferation assays with lymphocytes taken from the recipient after transplantation. The comparison of assay results in the presence of, and in the absence of (or in the presence of reduced levels of) a cytokine growth factor such as interleukin-2, is used to determine whether the organ is being rejected. Also disclosed are kits for practicing these methods.
Claims7
A method for monitoring the immunological status of a human transplant recipient who has received a transplanted organ, comprising the steps of:
- as step X, in the presence of a first concentration of an externally supplied quantity of a specified cytokine growth factor, exposing fibroblast cells derived from the organ to post-transplant lymphocytes from the recipient (other than lymphocytes from said organ);
- determining the extent to which the step X lymphocytes are immunologically activated by exposure to the step X cells;
- as step XX, in the absence of an externally supplied quantity of said specified cytokine growth factor, or in the presence of a concentration thereof which is less than that used in step X, exposing fibroblast cells derived from the transplanted organ to post-transplant lymphocytes from the recipient (other than lymphocytes from said organ);
- determining the extent to which the step XX lymphocytes are immunologically activated by exposure to the step XX cells;
- and
- determining from the extent to which the immunological activation is greater in step X than in step XX the extent to which the transplanted organ is being rejected by the recipient.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.